Sheep And Cattle In Fiji

The Wild Dog Pest

SHEEP -FARMING may be carried on successfully in Fiji, provided that some system can be found for bringing the wool cheaply from the farm in to the port for oversea shipment, says Mr. G.

C. Foulis, of Tavua, Fiji, who is at present on a visit .to Australia. Mr. Foulis holds a large area of pastoral land on the north coast of Viti Levu. He commenced farm ing there over 20 years ago. Prior to that, he was in the service of Sir Sidney Kid man, in Central Australia.

Mr. Foulis says that the whole of the north-coast of Viti Levu, from Tavua right round to Sigatoka, on the low hills, be tween the sugar belt and the interior, is suitable for sheep. He has experi mented with crossbreds of various kinds, but gradually has settled down to a Rom ney strain, with a little merino in it; and he can say, as a result of twenty years’ experience, that wool of this kind, grown in Fiji, commands on the London market practically the same price as the New Zealand product.

At first, Mr. Foulis ran a couple of thou sand sheep, and successfully. But about this time, owing to adjustment of the in dentured labour laws, a thousand Indian labourers were shipped back home, and every Indian apparently left behind him in Viti Levu at least one dog, to fend for itself. The poor beasts eventually took to the bush; and in a year or two the inland ranges were swarming with wild mongrel dogs. They attacked everything—fowls, mongooses, calves, pigs—and, of course, they decimated the flocks of sheep.

Finally Mr. Foulis brought his sheep, now reduced to a few hundreds, close in to his homestead, and he sent natives out to lay poison for the dogs, at so much per scalp. The natives, within three days, brought in no less than 1300 scalps. Sys tematic poisoning since has reduced the dog pest, and allowed the flocks to in crease; but new dogs always are coming in from other parts of the island to Mr.

Foulis’s holding, which is the only sheep farm in Fiji. Mr. Foulis now has a little less than 1000 sheep.

After the dog visitation, Mr. Foulis gave his attention to cattle, and now has large and healthy herds. Fiji has been proved to be very suitable for both beef and

dairy cattle. The largest dairy farm in the world is established in the Navua dis trict —Sir Maynard Hedstrom is the prin cipal owner. Some 600 cows are milked each day there; and Fiji butter, from this and other dairying districts, is now an important item of export from Fiji. There is an establishment near Shanghai, in China, supplying the city with milk, and this handles a larger number of cows than does Navua; but it is concentrated on a few acres of land, where the animals are stall-fed; whereas on the Navua farm the cows are properly pastured. The cows on the Navua farm have been mostly Jerseys; but the herd is being slowly turned over to Friesian, which is found to be more suitable for the special condi tions there.

Conditions generally are in favour of sheep-farming in Fiji, apparently—land and climate are suitable, rents and taxes are low, and there usually is plenty of

cheap labour. .The main difficulty, at present, is the transportation of the wool from the north coast to Suva. That is as costly as the freight from Suva to London.

Mr. W. R. Huntley, who is in charge of the Methodist Mission’s plantation at Vunakabi, New Britain, left Brisbane with his wife in July for Rabaul by the Mon toro.